Page 22 of articles about management in Articles

The mating and control unit is one of the most important elements of a sow unit. Thus, it must facilitate a high pregnancy rate, high number of piglets, uniform body condition, sow longevity and a low return rate.

When the sow is pregnant, the corpus luteum remains and continues to produce progesterone. While the levels of progesterone are high the sow does not become in heat and maintains gestation.

Abortions are not always witnessed in yards or extensive systems. Evidence is provided by sudden weight loss and a vulval discharge.

So far we have seen different options for retaining the males and for stimulating the stalled sows that maximize speed and stimulus. Once stimulated, now we are going to mate them.

Trials have shown that a group size of 15-25 pigs per pen is ideal and it also coincides with the capacity of most feeders on the market.

Without a doubt weaning is the most stressful process suffered by a pig, or at least it is up until that moment in its life.

For hormones to be efficient it is essential to use them with the right approach. For this we must know the reproductive cycle of the sow and the hormones that are involved.

Different systems of boar’s retention during stimulation and mating in stalls have already been seen. Now we are going to put it into practice.

Colostrum offers 3 essential properties to the piglet: very useful energy source (vital for generating movement and avoiding temperature loss), immune supply (protects against germs that the piglet begins to come into contact with) and natural growth factors (complete the maturity of the piglet).

For the animals to be comfortable it is important to know their needs. The more needs that we can fulfill the more productive the animal will be.

In order to carry out this economic analysis we have kept in mind the variables between the two types of weaning in the different phases: site 1 (reproductive sows), site 2 (weaning), and site 3 (fattening).

Both for heat detection and for mating, maximum efficiency is achieved if the sow is well stimulated.

A breeding chart would be like a type of computer without wires, screen or keyboard.

Normally the productivity of the sow is valued for the number of litters/sow/year multiplied by the number of weaned piglets per litter.

The most important way of examining the conditions of a building is using ones senses, since these might tell you immediately, whether an environmental problem is present.

With this article we begin the publication of a series of three unpublished articles by José Barceló for pig333.com on the age at weaning. José gave us the articles a few days before his death. As a way of paying homage to him we have decided to publish them posthumously without any alterations.